When I awoke in my apartment in the Academy, I instantly started scanning my soul for any possible signs that it had somehow been infected. After my first thorough search, I didn’t find anything, but I didn’t let that stop me and proceeded to check twice more. Still not satisfied, I had to ask the System.
“System, is my soul infected by any gu?”
Cost 100,000 credits.
“Purchase!”
Purchase confirmed. 10,060,599,004 Credits remaining.
No.
That finally let me breathe a sigh of relief. It might have been a bit of paranoia on my part, but I was terrified of the possibilities, especially in my now weakened state. The second half of the Master-level classes was supposed to focus on soul cultivation, right? I needed to use that as an opportunity to look into soul defenses.
As I sat in my room alone, I worried about what might have happened if I had been even a second slower in swallowing that pill. Would that have given my attackers time to infect me? How long would it take? Wen had needed me to swallow a pill, but did these people? They were Martial Kings, so they should have more powerful methods.
I needed to learn more about gu and what they could do. They were a serious potential danger.
The thought made me shiver. Until a few years ago, I had never even heard of such a thing. Now, they came out of nowhere and were a serious threat. How many other hidden dangers lurked in the world that might be able to end me? How many times had I unknowingly courted actual, true, final death?
I had been worried about trusting anyone with the secret of my resets because of a fear that it might lead to them soul-killing me or somehow permanently enslaving me. Now, I was facing the very real possibility of that happening without telling anyone.
I needed to talk to someone I could trust who knew about the world and the dangers it possessed. I needed someone to help me prepare for such dangers before I had to face them. I needed someone intelligent enough to understand the value of my resets and might have new ideas on how to take better advantage of them. As long as I kept the true power and mechanics of my System hidden, I could afford to tell someone about just the resets.
There was something else I had to consider as well: Time.
I may have an unlimited amount of time available to me, but I couldn’t do everything that I needed to do all at once. Originally, I had made a 100-year plan. Ten resets that lasted ten years each. While I always kept this plan in mind to help push myself forward, I had completely blown through these time limits.
The first life started things smoothly enough, and I was able to end it on time. However, the second life lasted nearly 20 years, and the third was nearly 30. I wasn’t exactly sure how long it had been in total, but I estimated I had burned through nearly 55 years already.
I had to return to the Wastes to settle things, but I still didn’t have the tools I needed to do that. Going with the original 100-year limit, I had 45 left. After those 45 years, I would allow myself to finish any active projects and settle the life I was in the middle of without regrets, but after that, I would force myself to leave and return to my beginnings in the Wastes.
That would mean leaving the Academy and everyone I had come to know here. I had been safeguarding my classmates’ memories in this ‘true’ timeline, but once I left, they would forget everything. It would be as if it never happened for them, and anything I did to help them would vanish.
I wanted a way to prevent that. I needed a way to prevent that. I had to keep Yan, LiTing, JiaQi, and YuLong real.
If I wanted to accomplish everything I needed to do, I couldn’t do it on my own. Learning all of the skills and knowledge I would need to protect myself from hidden dangers, solving the problem with Yan’s family, finding a way to permanently settle my debts in the Wastes, and discovering a way to have real relationships with people through an endless time loop. With unlimited time, I could accomplish all of this, but in only 45 years? No, I needed help.
These considerations were what brought me to Zhuge Yan’s door.
Yan was far more capable than I was when developing strategies and tactics. I could only hope that his insights into the value of my situation would prevent him from betraying my trust.
When Yan opened his door, he didn’t seem overly surprised to see me.
“What are you planning?”
Instead of letting him take the lead, I gestured to the small sitting area inside his room, silently asking for permission to enter.
After sitting down, I remained quiet as I tried to decide what I wanted to say. It was Yan who broke the silence.
“Fang? What’s going on?”
I looked him in the eyes and mustered my resolve.
“I need your help.”
I reached into my storage space and brought out the journal he had given me in Mortal City. I placed it on the table and then set my hand firmly upon it.
“I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I’m lying about my blessing.”
He carefully nodded. “It seems that way, but the school has ways to detect if you aren’t telling the truth. From what I know, you’ve never failed such checks.”
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“Yes… well, what I reported was just a small corner of the blessing I was granted. The core of it is far more complicated.”
Suddenly realizing a potential problem, I began subvocalizing.
“System, how much to place a barrier around Yan and me for the remainder of this conversation so that nothing we say can be overheard by anyone who might attempt to listen in?”
Barrier capable of preventing anyone who may choose to listen to this conversation from doing so. Cost 275 million credits.
With that price, who was that barrier designed to protect us from? If such high-level cultivators were trying to listen in, I definitely needed to stop that from happening.
“Purchase.”
Purchase confirmed. 9,785,599,004 credits remaining.
Our surroundings became slightly blurry. Yan raised an eyebrow at this but didn’t speak.
“Just a little protection from eavesdroppers.” I smiled weakly at him. “Anyway, regarding my blessing… It is a form of time reversion. When I die, I can return to specific points in the past.”
A look of suspicion crossed Yan’s face, but he didn’t interrupt.
“I just completed one of these reversions. At this point, I don’t think I can handle things by myself anymore. I need your help.”
I tapped on the book.
“Last time I was in this room, I asked you to take notes about what would happen over the next few years. I can’t fix everything myself. I also want to push my cultivation further and faster than I would normally be able to. I want to work with you to try and accomplish this.”
“You are saying that you can live hundreds of years, die, and then return to the past like it never happened. When you do so, you bring back all your memories and abilities with you as well as at least one book. Is that right?”
I nodded.
I could see the gears begin to turn in his mind.
“And I’m assuming, if you cultivate essence instead of just absorbing it, you will bring enhanced affinities with you to the past as well. Is that about right?”
A sheepish expression crossed my face. “Ye… Yes.”
Yan sat in silent contemplation for several minutes. As he did, I could see a war of contractions flow through his being. He had feelings of excitement, happiness, desperation, and fear all mixed up in a war for dominance. Finally, he looked at me and spoke in a grave tone.
“You set up protections so no one could hear us?”
I nodded.
“Fine. I need some proof of your claim. I consider you a friend, but there are limits. I’m willing to risk my own life on a crazy gamble, but trusting this ability of yours would mean far more than just that. I need to know for certain that what you are saying is true before I risk pulling my family into this. I also need to know about a possible limitation. If I die and then you die, you will revert to the past and I will be alive again, correct?”
I nodded once more.
“Then tell me what I am thinking about.”
Understanding his purpose, I subvocalized once more.
“System, set up a secondary reset point for this moment in time.”
Purchase confirmed. Cost 52,532,480 credits. 9,733,066,524 credits remaining.
“I’ve established the reversion point. After I die, I will know everything you tell me.”
Yan drew in a deep breath. A look of fear and desperation I had never seen in him before appeared in his eyes.
“Oolong tea.”
“Alright, I’ll see you soon.”
I started to prepare for another reset, but Yan stopped me.
“This continent is controlled by the Nine Rivers Saint. Beneath him are the three clans led by Martial Ancestors. The Sovereigns on this continent are all outer elders of these clans who only care about accruing enough credit with their clans to be allowed to return to the Central Continent. They are here to absorb the most promising cultivators into their Bloodline. That is what is above the Ruler Tier. The Bloodline Tier. Sovereign, Spirit, Ancestor. At that level, one must steal the future potential from people of their own Bloodline. That’s what it means to cultivate karmic energy, to steal karmic potential from people. The clans harvest cultivators from this continent and use a ceremony to induct them into their bloodlines to fuel their advancement. The only exception is Ning ZeKun. He—”
Yan spoke in a rush, trying to get everything out at once, but he was too slow.
A lightning bolt crashed down, tore through the roof of the building, and struck Yan with the full fury of the Heavens.
He was obliterated, body and soul.
I wanted to freeze in terror, but I knew I couldn’t let myself do so. That strike would draw others here soon.
As fast as I could, I reached into my storage space, pulled out a poison pill, and swallowed it.
You have died. Calculating…
You died as a Martial Master Peak. 20,000 credits awarded.
Total Credits: 9,733,086,524
----------------------------------------
My body was shaking in fear. What had I just seen? The power contained in that lightning bolt… It was… too much.
I opened my eyes and saw Yan sitting in front of me.
I could barely speak.
“Oo… Oolong tea.”
My eyes unfocused as I stared ahead.
“What was that? You said—”
Yan raised a hand and cut me off. “Stop. I am not allowed to discuss certain topics.”
He leaned over and pulled his old journal from my unresisting fingers. I sat there trying to cope with everything as he quickly skimmed through the book and picked out a few important details.
“Fang, this is going to take time for me to go through. What can you tell me about what happens?”
“Right… right… I don’t know much. I was in the sect… You just said that your family targeted JiaQi and YuLong after they left the Academy. LiTing was assassinated during a duel in the school.”
His eyes flashed with anger. “So, we all need to stay in the Academy and away from questionable ‘duels’ then.”
“Not just that. We need to stay in the same class. I can provide resources so that LiTing never has to display her talent. Also… I might have some level of protection from another source.”
I took out Emperor Li’s token.
“You are working with Elder Li?”
“It’s… complicated. You could say that I’m his disciple, but he might not know it.”
Yan’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t trust him. Now that you know… Your situation might give you some protection, but never let him learn about it. He is far too dangerous.”
I nodded in agreement. I didn’t understand enough about Emperor Li and his motives to tell him anything. I would accept his teachings and return my gratitude tenfold, but I wouldn’t dare risk trusting him with the secrets of my rebirths.
I brought the topic back around to the present.
“We need to go meet with the others. What are we going to do? What should we tell them?”
“They need to know. Not everything, but they need to know some of it.” Yan was adamant. “Their help will be invaluable. LiTing and JiaQi will be especially valuable if they can advance their professions far enough, and if YuLong can continue improving his martial skills, he could be a powerful shield against our enemies.”
I needed to ask a question, but I had to do so in a circumspect way.
“Yan… is there a way to cultivate through Ruler Tier without using karmic energy? Can someone advance to Lord and… beyond… without it?”
He breathed out slowly. “None that I am aware of. From everything I’ve learned, Lords required it to advance.”
“Then, what are we trying to do here? If that’s the only way forward, we’re going to have to walk the same path as everyone else. Is this… Is what we do going to accomplish anything?”
He looked at me and answered carefully.
“Survival. I didn’t leave my clan and come here to change what is. I did it for my own future and survival. I don’t know if there is any bright future to be had through the Academy or the sect. There might not be, but I do know there wasn’t one for me if I had stayed in my clan. If we can do well enough to attract the personal attention of the Saint, maybe…”
He trailed off, unable to say any more.